With the racial tension rocking our nation, what is your opinion on the monuments that commemorate the Confederacy, it’s soldiers, and war leaders? These monuments started to appear near the turn of the 20th century and more were erected again in mid-century as part of the “Lost Cause” pseudohistory. Should these be left in place as a historical reminder, or should they be taken down and destroyed? Check out this author’s opinion and suggestion as A Solution to the Confederate-Monument Problem.
In my opinion, these monuments need to be addressed and the glorification factor needs to be toned down or removed. They went up to pay homage to the good ‘ol days of Southern white supremacy. Jim Crow Laws (1860s-1960s) ushered in a new era of black suffering and a new form of racial slavery in America, and these monuments helped reinforce that ideology.
As a historian, I believe it is absolutely essential that we research and understand this era of slavery, the southern rebellion, and the Civil War in our nation’s history. These statues don’t do that. On the contrary, these monuments are rewriting our history to make us think these men fought and died for a noble cause– that’s a win for the Lost Cause Theory folks. It’s time for them to come down or given less sanctity. It’s not erasing history, it’s setting history straight!
Austin M. Frederick 